Fifteen years ago he fought the toughest battle of his life in an operating room after meeting-1 brain tumorBut beyond finding the support of your football team to be able to deal with the health problem, Christian Romero explained that Atlante shared the expenses arguing that they had not renewed their health insurance because they were playing on loan at their subsidiary.
Emerged from the basics of Iron Foals, It was René Isidoro García who gave him the opportunity to make his debut in the First Division at the 2006 Opening at the age of 20 after being rejected by other coaches such as José Guadalupe Cruz and Manuel Negrete, but due to his bad luck. he only played one game, 31 minutes to be precise and that was it.
“Pepe Cruz sent me to the Primera A subsidiary that was in Colima and being there, like in two or three months, I started to feel really bad, with headaches every day, All the time. Being a kid I thought nothing was wrong with me, in training I would go to the doctor to tell him about my problem and he would tell me it was a migraine. As I was three weeks old my eye started to close and I couldn’t move it“, Romero talked to Werevertumorro on the podcast Very Out of Place.
Taking even humorously his problem because he said he saw “like a chameleon”, Christian Romero was getting worse until the Colimense club asked him to go to the doctor because with his appearance it was impossible to let him exercise.
“One day they saw me so badly that they forbade me to trainIn addition to my eye problem and headaches, I lost weight. They sent me to have a CT scan and they found a lot of fluid in the brain, I was told that an urgent operation was needed and it was that I went back to the CDMX for that because here are the best hospitals, ”he recalled.
‘Atlante did not renew my insurance and I with a tumor’
Not knowing for sure what health problem was afflicting him, Romero contacted Real Colima to apply for health insurance, however, this equipment “He kicked him out” at Atlante, Which in turn told the player “No way” because he had won.
“At that time I called Colima to inform my team of my situation and claim insurance. All players must have health insurance paid for by the club, But they told me that this had to be resolved with Atlante because it belonged to them. I contact Atlante and they tell me that they did not renew my insurance, that no way, that there was nothing to do (…) Shortly afterwards, they told me at the hospital that mine was a brain tumor that was obstructing the passage of fluid and they had to remove it from me. “
We had 150,000 pesos just from the hospital: Romero
The economic situation was urgent for the then footballer, since the hospital bill was six digits, Although due to his condition he could not take charge of the claim to the Iron Foals and it was his parents who absorbed the entire load.
“I was totally sedated by this moment, I couldn’t take it anymore. My parents were the ones fighting with Atlante over the insurance issue and it was very exhausting, of pure hospital were like 150 thousand pesos at that time, I’m talking about 15 years ago (…) Before entering the operating room I was told that I would not play football again, there was even the possibility of not leaving the operation. They literally opened my brain because the tumor was behind my eye“He explained.
Although the Blaugranes still did not assume their responsibility, it was only until Christian Romero’s family threatened to air everything in the media that the institution “reluctantly” returned some of the money spent.
“At first Atlante stayed with the fact that they did not renew the insurance, They thought my parents weren’t going to do anything, but they replied that they were going to ask and take the issue out with the press. It was then that the club asked for as much billing as possible to make me the refund, but several months passed. In the end if they returned the bill to me, although it was not all that was spent on my surgery“, He said.
During the eight hours he spent in the operating room they only managed to remove half of the tumor, As the other part was very close to the eye and was at risk of losing it. Doctors said that with chemotherapy would be resolved and so it was, although the experience was traumatic for Romero because he suffered from disgust to such an extent that his own saliva made him vomit.